This is more of an opinion question:

Question

I'm working on Verifying Identities but I always have trouble knowing where to start. Once my teacher points it out i'm like "oh, duh" but on my own I have not the slightest idea on how to begin these; especially the tricky ones. Does anyone have any tips/tricks they use to verify identities??

Answer 1

Two general rules I usually follow are:

1. Start with the more complicated side and try to reduce it to the simpler side

2. Unless I recognize some well-known identities, I try to change everything to sines and cosines.